Its all character building! The last couple of weeks have turned out to be more than just a holiday, more like a reality check with a couple of life experience chucked into the mix. Its all good though, we're cruising along smoothly now.

Bay of Islands seemed like such a nice place in the guidebooks, and it was apart from a minor blip when our car got broken into at night and some of our stuff got nicked. Our main bags, and day sacks along with a couple of cloths and mp3 players were the items stolen. We still had enough cloths and stuff to survive and mot improtantly our surfboards were not nicked. My passport did get taken but ive sorted that all out now, so ill even get a new photo in my passport, the old one was pretty bad. Apart from out stuff being knicked we did have a good time in the bay of islands. We spent a day swimming around a waterfall and jumping off it as well as swimming about 15 minutes from the main beach out to a little island. Everyone else was kayaking there so we looked pretty hardcore (and cheap for not hiring a kayak). When we got back the locals said sharks our in the bay but they were prob pulling our legs, or hope so! After bay of Islands we went north to Ahipara, which is at the south end of the ninety mile beach. We spent about 3 days here. We got our first surf in of the trip which was pretty average but was good as we had an opportunity to get back up to scratch. While waiting for some swell we hired a quad bike. This was sick. How rolled his twice and we got them up to 70kph on the sand, were doing donuts and bombing it over rock pools. They got proper ragged. The swell never came so we decided to head south to Mt Manganui on the east coast.

We drove for about 4 hours and parked up just North of Auckland to camp. This was about half way to Mt Manganui. We got up at six so we could get to Mt Manganui for the new swell arriving. We got through Auckland in an hour and were making good time. This was until our car started making some proper dodgy noises. The break down service was rang and we got towed to a garage in the opposite direction to where we were going. The Mechanic, Warren, was a good bloke. He had a look over and it didn't seem to have much of a problem. the brakes were cool, and he reckoned a nut must of just been flying around the tyre to make the noise. After another test drive another noise started. He thought it might of been the gearbox but while checking it the fan just fell off. The conclusion was that the fan had came loose. It wasn't even connected! he took it out and chucked it in the boot. After another test drive he decided it was safe to drive but said to take it easy. As we were pulling out of the garage the engine made a really loud crunching, and grating sound. the car wouldn't go forward or back. The automatic gear box had packed up so the car was cream crackered! We just burst out laughing! It was either that or get in a mood. The mechanic toed us to Hamilton which was the biggest town to where we broke down. After dropping the car at another garage which was shut (it was a saturday) we went to book into some hostels. They were all booked up. Apparently there was a campsite somewhere so we went to track it down. The rest of our belongings were put in bin bags (we still hadn't bought any rucksacks) and then we started walking through town asking for directions. We must of looked like a sorry state as a local lady offered us a lift to the campsite via an offlicense. This was the point when our luck had to change and so far it seems that it has. We hit the town that night and had a laugh. The next day a guy on the campsite offered us a lift back up to Auckland so we could get another car. Dad was a complete legend. He sorted us out a rental car from a company at the Auckland airport. This was a saviour as well as a bargain. the van we got was an 8 seater Toyota Lidera which could have a mattress chucked in the back. so we can now just pull up anywhere and sleep in it without having to pay for camping fees. It normally goes for £30 a day but we got it for £12.

(Continued from the 5th of March) We left the rental car depot with a big smile on our faces. First port of call was the Hot Water Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula east of Auckland. It took 2 hours to get there and the car was a beauty to drive. Hot Water Beach was voted in the top 10 most beautiful beaches of the world. It is called Hot Water Beach because there is a lava flow about 500m below the beaches surface. At low tide you can go to a n area about 10m radius in size and dig a hole. The water is baking! some parts are too hot to put your foot in for more than a second. I didnt have a spade so just jumped into random peoples pools that were already dug. The surf at the beach was pretty good as well so we got our fix. We parked our van in the beach carpark where there were cold water showers and benches to cook in. We chilled out with a bunch of germans who also had the same idea. We spent one night at Hot Water Beach before moving onto Mt Mangunui which was about an hours drive away. Mt Manganui had a definate california/french fill to the place. Had a long beach with a boardwalk, sky high hotels and classy restaurants. There were loadsa surfers and it was pretty hot, one of the warmest places in NZ. The surf was quite small but was pretty clean and hollow. We used the facilities at a local campsite then slept in the beach carpark. In the morning we walked up Mt Manganui which is about 250m tall. There were good views from the top. In the afternoon we drove to Rotorua via Te Puke which is the Kiwi fruit capital of NZ. They have got there own patented special breed of Kiwi Fruit called the golden kiwi fruit but to be honest its pretty average and the same as a normal kiwi just slightly yellow instead of green. Rotorua is the main volcanic town of the country with geysers, geo-thermal pools and hot mud pools. In Rotorua we parked outside a hostel called, Cactus Jack. In the evening we went to a local backpackers bar. Pretty much everyone there was part of the 'Kiwi Experience' coach. After a while we just kept having the same convo with everyone and everybody on the coach already had there own little crew so they weren/t really looking for some super cool mates like us. In the morning we went to Te Puia which is a Maroi Culture park with the biggest geyser (water spout from geo-thermal pressure). After being a tourist in the morning we went to find a geo-thermal pool which you didn't have to pay to go in. There was one just out of town. It was the weirdest experience. There was stream with a 3ft waterfall and a pool at the bottom. The pool was baking, hotter than a bath and only bareable for about 5 mins before making you really lathargic due to the heat. On Friday went white-water rafting and sledging down Kaitaia River (www.raft-it.co.nz). We went down the biggest commercial waterfall in the world at 7m high. Once we had rode the rapids in a raft we then went down it on a sledge. The sledges were kinda like chunk hollow plastic bodyboards with handles. It was pretty mad going down the rapids on these sledges but you did drink more river water than a fish. In the evening there was a party with free booze. We hit the party at about 8 and surprise surprise the free booze had ran out. We made a spur of the moment decision and decided to drive 2 hours to Raglan on the west coast. This town is the most famous wave in New Zealand and was first featured in a surf DVD in the 60's. We arrived at Raglan at 10:30pm with howling offshore winds, heavy downpours and pitch blackness. We slept in a carpark overlookin Manu Bay. In the morning we were woken up at 8 by a parking officer banging on the window. He was pretty pissed off and told us to move on and if we do it again well get a fine. We got the message so we went to a campsite/hostel/eco-friendly save the whale treehuggers joint. It was called Solscape and was a pretty cool place. The whole recycling and compost thing proved quite difficult for How to get the grips of. Everyone there was pretty chilled and most surfed. Throughout saturday the winds were really strong and the sea was messy. Most people were just hitting the beer. After a couple of games of chess (our new found entertainment) we went for a drive along the point on a whim. We saw a small wave breaking at Whale Bay at about 5pm. It was waist high and sort of clean so we got suited and jumped in as there was nobody out. Over the next three hours the surf just kept building. Word got out and people started arriving in drips and drabs. By about 7:30 there was 12 people in the water and the waves were clean and overhead with light offshores, Sickness!One of the best surf sessions ive had. The next few days were pretty average and we didn't really surf much and just played lots chess. I sorted out my passport and insurance claim stuff so thats all out the way now. On wednesday we drove around the headland along a dirt track. It took 40 mins driving at 20kph or so. the waves were really good again and it seemed like everybody in town new about it so it got pretty crowded. On the drive back we realised that we barely had anypetrol so on the downhill we put the car in neutral and coasted. We just made it back in town to fill back up on petrol. On Fr iday we drove to New Plymouth which is in the Taranaki region and has a road which goes right along the coast called Surfers Highway 45, pretty cheesy but it isn't lying. Theres loads of waves around here. We are staying at a place called Wave Haven. It has a really homely feeling, like walking into someones house and doing what you like. theres about 5 people here, all surfers. Imbetween surfing we just play the PS2, watch DVD's etc (no more chess though as we kinda killed it). Saturdya morning we got up at 6.30, made a brew and hit the road. We got in the sea at 7.30. The waves were pumping with only 10 people out. We were surfing at Stent Road, one of well known breaks in the area. In the evening we went to a spot called graveyards and the waves were double overhead. We went in and then got out as it was pretty gnarly. At the end of the day we were shattered! Today (Sunday) weve just lazed around playing a bit of Time Crisis. We are goin to spend the rest of the week in Taranaki then head over to Gizborne.